As 2014 comes to a close, we’re once again asking the Colorado craft beer community to reflect on the past year and look ahead to next. This next installment in our 4th annual Beer In Review features Sam Scruby, who took over as head brewer at Upslope Brewing after Alex Violette left to start a brewery in Vietnam. The six-year-old Boulder brewery in 2014 launched its Lee Hill Series, featuring more adventurous beers in “bomber cans.” Sam’s picks:

Marks Lanham and David Lin of Comrade Brewing give us their answers to Beer in Review 2014.

As 2014 comes to a close, we’re once again asking leading figures on the Colorado beer scene to reflect on the past year and look ahead to next. This next installment in our 4th annual Beer In Review features David Lin and Marks Lanham of Denver’s Comrade Brewing Co., which is in its first year of existence and already is blowing away the city’s craft beer community by its outstanding brews. A fresh hopped version of the brewery’s Superpower IPA won a silver medal in the 2014 Great American Beer Festival and the beer has been lauded by some of the state’s best brewers as the premiere Indian Pale Ale brewed in the state. Those are pretty heady compliments, making beer enthusiasts thirst for more from this little brewery on Denver’s southeast border.

As 2014 comes to a close, we’re once again asking leading figures on the Colorado beer scene to reflect on the past year and look ahead to next. This next installment in our 4th annual Beer In Review features Branden Miller, one of the owners of Black Shirt Brewing in Denver’s River North neighborhood. The brewery that riffs off a single red ale recipe just received three more fermentation tanks that will increase its capacity by almost 40 percent, meaning more BSB microphone tap handles at beer bars and restaurants around town, along with new beers and collaborations in store for 2015. Here are Branden’s answers:

Favorite beer of the year: While vacationing in San Diego, I frequented the revered Toronado and was turned on to Prairie’s Funky Gold Mosaic on tap, a game changer for me. The balance of fruity, juicy aromatics and bright, beautiful acidity were just perfect.

The depth and breadth of Colorado’s brewing scene was on display Saturday at the Great American Beer Festival awards, with medals going to the state’s largest and most legendary brewer, independent craft brewing trailblazers and, perhaps most notably, an impressive number of small breweries making their festival debuts.

In all, Colorado breweries brought home 39 medals (40 if you count the pro-am medal shared by Westminster’s Kokopelli Beer Co.), in the most wide-open GABF competition ever. Ten of them were gold.

The glut of new breweries in the U.S. and increased interest to compete at the prestigious festival prompted organizers to limit entrants to five beers in most cases, leading to unprecedented parity on the podium.

Beer geek nirvana at the first What the Funk!? Festival (Eric Gorski, The Denver Post)

Organizers of last fall’s inaugural What the Funk!? Festival promised the event would return for another installment, but we weren’t expecting it so soon.

A slightly bigger version of the invitational festival showcasing barrel-aged, wild, sour and funky beers from a beer geek’s dream team will coincide with the Craft Brewers Conference coming to Denver in early April.

The fest will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at the EXDO Event Center. Oh, and another thing … Tickets ($80 plus fees) are on-sale now here. The first WTF!? sold out quickly so it would be wise to act fast.

Boulder-based Upslope Brewing on Tuesday announced fast progress towards its goal of becoming a regional craft brewery, reporting triple-digit growth figures and plans to expand its distribution territory into three more states early this year.

The brewery, which packages traditional craft styles in cans, added a second brewery in its hometown last year.

Upslope said it produced 12,000 barrels last year, for a 109 percent increase over 2012. Last year, the five-year-old brewery expanded into Texas, its first venture outside Colorado.

Kokpelli Beer Company’s new digs in Westminster (provided by Kokopelli).

Our latest roundup of Colorado craft beer news …

What promises to be another big year for Colorado brewery openings begins with a couple of new brewpubs … on Thursday night, The Post Brewing Co. opened in a former VFW hall in Lafayette promising hot chicken and cold beer. The brewery posted an Instagram photo 15 minutes after opening of a full house. The initial beer menu posted online spotlights the guest taps from Avery, Grimm Brothers, Upslope, Dogfish Head and Firestone Walker alongside a Post collaboration with Lafayette brothers-in-arms Odd 13 Brewing. The head brewer is former Dogfish Head brewer Bryan Selders.

Avery Brewing is doing a little Christmas ale counter-programming with the release of a beer named for a demon.

The beer geek-favorite Boulder brewery unleashes the ninth annual batch of its Mephistopheles Stout today, its latest and last big beer release of the year. The 15.4 percent alcohol-by-volume imperial stout was first brewed in 2005 as the third installment in Avery’s Demons of Ale series.

The beer is distinguished by its Westmalle Belgian yeast strain – which the brewery says produces layers of esters and phenols that create much of the complexity – roasted and black malts, and trace amounts of Special B. That’s a specialty malt that adds a touch raisin-like sweetness.

Thanksgiving is a great time to break out a treasure from the cellar to get through peeling all those potatoes, sneak some saison into the brine and get creative pairing craft beer with traditional Turkey Day dishes.

We asked experts from local bottle shops and beer-centric restaurants – and a guy who is a chef and a brewer – for Thanksgiving craft beer pairing suggestions. They came up with a bounty of ideas sure to both tempt the craft beer connoisseur and win converts from the grape juice …

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!